Influential Scientists: Ibn al-Haytham & Darwin

Study Notes

Ibn al-Haytham was a polymath born in what is now Iraq, known for his contributions to mathematics, physics, astronomy, philosophy, and medicine.
He wrote over 200 books during his lifetime and was an expert in Aristotle's philosophy.
He is credited with discovering the laws of reflection and refraction and inventing the camera obscura.
This work contributed to his influence on astronomy, mathematics, and optics, inspiring scientists such as Galileo, Kepler, and Newton.
In 2016, UNESCO celebrated him as a pioneer and the founder of modern optics.

Darwin's interest in science began in childhood, experimenting and collecting natural specimens.
He was nicknamed "Gas" for his chemistry experiments with his brother.
Darwin's observations and experiments continued through his formal education, culminating in his graduation from Cambridge in 1831.
He was invited to be a naturalist on the H.M.S. Beagle, departing in 1831 and returning in 1836.
During the Beagle's voyage, he collected new plant and animal specimens, studied geology, and made observations that challenged existing scientific paradigms.
He wrote ten books after On the Origin of Species, including works on animal behavior, orchids, and domestication.

In June 1858, Darwin received a paper from Alfred Russel Wallace, an English naturalist working in Malaysia, outlining similar ideas about evolution through natural selection.
Wallace's paper, titled "On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type," prompted Darwin to publish his own theories.
This led to a joint presentation of their works to the Linnaean Society in 1858.

Weismann proposed the theory of germ-plasm, which predicted that offspring inherit half their germ-plasm from each parent.
He also argued that acquired traits could not be inherited.
His work was a major contribution to understanding genetic inheritance, but a connection between genetics and evolution was still missing.

Mendel published his work on heredity in 1865, which was groundbreaking in understanding genetic inheritance.
His work focused on experiments with pea plants.